Society News

New Delhi/Lucknow / Shimla, Dec 30 (ANI): Massive blanket of fog disrupted train services in many parts of north India on Tuesday, giving hard time to passengers as trains were cancelled or delayed. People in New Delhi woke up to a chilly morning as temperature was recorded at 4 degrees Celsius, forcing people to stay indoors and sit around bonfire to stay warm. As the visibility dropped to below 50 metres in the morning, many trains were also rescheduled. Dense fog crippled life in Lucknow too and rail traffic was also badly hit. More than 20 people have died due to extreme cold in Uttar Pradesh. Homeless people are the worst hit. Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday as the high altitude areas reeled under arctic conditions.Dec 30, 2014

Bijapur / Palamu, Dec 30 (ANI): Five Maoists, including two women, surrendered before the police in Chhattisgarh. High-handedness by top brass Maoists, discriminatory treatment, exploitation of women and taking away of their property by troubling villagers have been told as primary reasons behind the move, besides state government's rehabilitation policy for the surrendered Maoists. The women Maoists had a bounty of rupees two lakh each on them. The police have given rupees five thousand to each of the surrendered militant as reward money. Meanwhile, in Palamu district of Jharkhand, police arrested a Maoist of Jharkhand Janmukti Parishad after receiving secret information. He has been booked under several cases, extortion being one of them. As per the police, he had threatened a hospital superintendent for extortion after which he was nabbed as per the laid plan.Dec 30, 2014

Kedarnath, Dec 30 (ANI): Work is in full swing in temple town of Kedarnath, the epicentre of the worst flooding across Uttarakhand last year, which killed at least 6,000 people. The state authorities have approved a reconstruction and rehabilitation plan for Kedarnath, one of the holiest shrines of the Hindus. It is banking on the recommendations of the Geological Survey of India for planning reconstruction and rehabilitation work at Kedarnath. The institute is also building a helipad of 150 metres by 50 metres, the biggest in the town, to enable Indian Air Force's Mi-26 choppers to carry construction materials and equipments at the sites. But the weather plays truant with construction work gets hampered by the dipping temperatures. It has been decided not to allow any construction activity around the temple, which bore the brunt of the floods.Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia, Dec 30 (ANI): Possible debris of AirAsia Flight 8501 was spotted floating in the Java Sea on Tuesday, Indonesia official confirmed in a press conference. MetroTV showed two relatively large objects, one orange and one grey or brown, floating on the surface. The largest appeared to be several metres in length. But it has not yet been confirmed that they belong to the missing plane. An Airbus A320-200 carrying 162 people and operated by Indonesia AirAsia disappeared in poor weather on Sunday (December 28) morning during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. The search area was expanded on Tuesday morning as countries around Asia stepped up the search for the plane. Around 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea would search around 10,000 square nautical miles on Tuesday, officials said. The US has also decided to send this warship to help find the missing jet.Dec 30, 2014

Mumbai, Dec 30 (ANI): A special CBI court on Tuesday gave clean chit to BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Shah had sought a discharge in the case saying he was being targeted by his political rivals. Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi were allegedly kidnapped by Gujarat's anti-terrorism Squad in November 2005 and killed in a fake encounter. Following this, Sohrabuddin's brother, Rubabuddin, had filed a complaint that his brother was killed in a fake encounter. Rubabuddin has now said that he will move the high court against the CBI court's verdict.Dec 30, 2014

Shimla, Dec 30 (ANI): The mysterious death of hundreds of chickens triggered bird flu panic in hill town of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. Nearly 323 chickens were found dead by the police during a routine checking from a truck that was heading towards Kinnaur district of the state. It was later reported to the animal husbandry department. As a precautionary measure, the department destroyed the remaining lot of the broilers. Last month India found two outbreaks of a highly contagious bird flu virus in Kerala, prompting the authorities to cull more than 2,00,000 birds, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi/ Chennai, Dec 30 (ANI): Bollywood actor Salman Khan faced flak from political leaders in India for allegedly supporting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa in elections. According to reports, Khan has agreed to campaign for Rajapaksa in elections to be held in Srilanka next month. DMK's TKS Elangovan said that it is highly condemnable that Salman Khan going to campaign for Rajapaksa.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): Political reactions flowed in as the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to take the ordinance route to amend the Land Acquisition Act to kick start stalled projects.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): Political leaders on Tuesday welcomed the PDP's suggestion of a 'grand alliance' in Jammu and Kashmir with National Conference (NC) and the Congress. Congress leader Rashid Alvi said that this is the only option for development of the state. NCP leader Tariq Anwar said that it is good for JandK that all secular parties cam together to form government. Regional parties too welcomed the alliance. Meanwhile, BJP Spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that any attempt to form a government in the Jammu and Kashmir without its inclusion will be a travesty of the mandate given by the people of the state. Calling it a farce, Rao said that BJP is keen to form the government and fulfill its promise of development in the state.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday applauded Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi for facilitating induction of more northeast officers in Delhi police force. Rijiju along with Home Ministry officials visited the Delhi Police headquarters and discussed problems of the northeast people with senior police officers. Rijiju has decided to enhance the number of officers from the northeast in Delhi Police. He is also likely to write a letter to all northeastern states to encourage their youth to join Delhi Police.Dec 30, 2014

Palampur, Dec 30 (ANI): Kargil martyr Captain Vikram Batra's mother KK Batra on Tuesday resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party. Talking to mediapersons in Palampur, she said that she was not satisfied with the working of the party.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi/ Hubli, Dec 30 (ANI): Political and religious leaders on Tuesday react over ongoing protests against Aamir Khan's recently released 'PK'. NCP Leader Tariq Anwar and AAP's Manish Sisodia said that protests against such movies which give a social message is condemnable and should be stopped. Muslim Cleric Maulana Mohammad Sajid Rashidi said that there was nothing to protest in the flick and said that if any religious community feels like protesting in the matter, there should be better ways to do the same. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Hindu Sena Chief Pramod Muthalik condemned the movie itself and said that such movies which hurt sentiments of any religion, should be banned.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): Political leaders on Tuesday said that Pakistan's 'anti terror agenda' is not strong enough after 26/11 accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was detained for the second time in Pakistan, a day after a court cancelled government orders to keep him in prison even after he was granted bail on December 18. Indian had reacted strongly to his bail and Ministry of external affairs had on Monday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and expressed its strong displeasure over Lakhvi's imminent release.Dec 30, 2014

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday expressed its gladness over delivering on its promise of regularizing unauthorized colonies in New Delhi, adding that the decision will provide relief for many residents in the national capital. The Union Cabinet extended the cut-off date for the regularization of unauthorised colonies in New Delhi from March 31, 2002, to June 1, 2014 on Monday. The rival parties, however, said that the BJP is trying to take political mileage by coming up with this proposal for the poll bound Delhi.Dec 30, 2014